Fishing the Florida Keys - What a Bite!

As I mentioned last time, Permit are being caught at the bridge. Offshore has been pretty hot for Sails, which is normal for this month, but Wahoo and Dolphin are included in every report I've gotten. I asked how the tarpon are biting in Key West and one boat out of Almost There Charters had three on a trip two days ago. The Bay is hot as a fire cracker! Not only tons of Spanish Mackerel, but more cobia than I've seen in years. While I was driving to Key West yesterday, every flat I drove past on the ocean side was loaded with bait. Pelicans, terns and gulls were every where! It looked like birds behind a shrimp boat, only there were no boats anywhere.

Driving over the Seven Mile bridge, I saw four boats fishing along the way and all had nice size Mangrove Snapper coming over the side. To help you understand what I just said, normally there would be fifteen or more boats and you might see two fish, for all four boats to have fish on, that's just plain outrageous! Every bridge that I passed, that had anglers, someone seemed to be taking pictures of fish. Not small stuff, but three pound Mangs and one guy had a either a big pompano or a small permit. Heck, I got a great fishing report just driving down the road! So I stopped by a few docks to get reports from local charter guys in Marathon and not a single boat in the old town had been out in two days. We are in the middle of one of the best bites I've ever seen, and no customers!

This is one of the most frustrating starts to the season I have every seen. Fish every where and not a customer is sight!